The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ipomoea plant botanically known as Ipomoea batatas and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balsotowac’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Arroyo Grande, Calif. during January 2015. The objective of the breeding program was the development of ornamental Ipomoea cultivars with a vigorous, climbing habit.
The new ornamental Ipomoea cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Ipomoea batatas breeding selection coded 206-006, not patented, characterized by its dark green-colored foliage and vigorous, spreading growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is ‘Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Purple’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,573, characterized by its small to medium-sized heart to spade-shaped dark purple leaves and moderately vigorous, compact to moderately compact, mounded-trailing growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during May 2015 in a controlled environment in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since May 2015 in Arroyo Grande, Calif., and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.